The appeals court late last week issued a schedule resetting the case to the week of July 15. A specific day for the arguments will be set later.

The hearing had been set for the week of June 3. The appeals court did not explain why it had moved the hearing.

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett on Jan. 6, 2012 ruled that Jefferson County's bankruptcy restricted the power of state court-appointed receiver John S. Young to raise sewer rates and exercise autonomous control of the county's financially troubled sewer system.

Sewer bondholders appealed to U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the hopes of getting Bennett's decision overturned.

Before Jefferson County filed for bankruptcy Nov. 9, 2011, Young had been considering a plan in which he would order sewer rate hikes to bring in more money from sewer system operations to make the bond payments.

Meanwhile, Bennett will hold a trial on Jan. 30 to consider sewer bondholders request to lift the automatic stay that prevents legal action against the county while in bankruptcy. Bondholders are seeking permission to go back to state court to seek higher sewer rates than approved by the Jefferson County Commission this fall.